Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-01-17

they may have been too rigid and severe
in religious discipline, and cracked you
over the head with psalm.book. 1t may
be that some partner in business, who was
a member OF an evangelical church,
played on you a trick that disguised You
with religion. 1t may be that you have
associates who have talked against Christi
anity in your presence until you are all
at sea" and you dwell more on things
that you do not believe than on things
you do believe. You are in one respect
like Lord Nelson, when a signal was lifted
that he wished to disregard and he put his
sea-glass to his blind eye and said: II
really do not see the signal" o, my
hearers, put this iield-glass of the gospel
no longer 10 your blind eye and say can
not see, but put it to your other eye, the
eve OF faith, and you will see Christ and
He is all You need 10 see.
lfyou can believe nothing else, you Ger.
tainly believe in vicarious suffering, for
YOU see it almost every day in some shape.
Last month the steamship Knickerbocker,
Of the Cromwell line, running between
here and New Orleans, was in great
storms, and the captain and crew saw the
schooner Mary ID. Cramer, of Philadelphia.
in distress. The weather cold, the waves
mountain high, the first officer of the
steamship and four men put out in the life
boat to save the crew of the schooner, and
reached the vessel and towed il out OF
danger, the wind shifting and the schooner
was saved. But the five men of the steam
ship coming back, their boat capSized, YET
righted again and came on. the sailors
coated with ice. The boat capsized again,
and three times upset and was righted, and
line was thrown the poor fellows, but
their hands and arms were frozen so they
could not grasp it, and great wave rolled
over them and they went down never TO
rise again till the sea gives up its dead.
Appreciate that hcroism and self sacrifice
of the brave fellows we all can, and can
we not appreciate the Christ who put out
in more biting cold and into more
overwhelming surge To bring us out of in
finite peril into everlasting safety? The
wave of human hate rolled over Him from
one side, and the wave of hellish fury rolled
over Him on the other side. Oh, the
thickness of the night and the thunder of
the tempest into which Christ plunged for
our rescue
Come in on that
ONE NARROW BEAM,
the beam of the cross. Let all else 20 and
cling to that. Put that under you, and
with the earnestness of n swimmer strug-
Cling for his life put out for shore. There
=. Of Aalr Iu
built, and already many, who were as far
out rs you are, are standing in its genial
and heavenly glow. The angels of Gods
rescue are wading ont into the surf to
clutch your hand and they know how ex-
hausted You are, and all the redeemed
prodigals of heaven are on the beach with
new white robes TO clothe all those who
come in on broken pieces Of the ship.
My sympathies are for such all the more
because | was naturally skeptical, disposed
To question everything about this life and
the next, and was in danger of being fur
ther ont to sea than any of the 278 in the
Mediterranean breakers, and | was some
time the annoyance af my theological pro-
fessor because | asked 10 many questions.
But came in on n plank. knew Christ
was the Saviour of sinners, and that was
sinner, and got ashore, and ! do not
propose to 20 out on that sea again.
have not for thirty minutes discussed the
controverted points of theology in thirty
years. And during the rest of my life
do not propose to discuss them for thirty
seconds.
would rather, in n mud-scow try IA
| hos ln, ,l,nt a
up from the Caribbean than risk my i'm.
mortal soul in
USELESS AND pERIIOUS DISCUSSIONS
in which some of my brcthern in the
ministry are indulging. They remind me
of a company of sailors standing on Rams
gate per-head, from which the e.boats
are usually launched, and coolly discussing
the different style of Oar-lOcks and how
deep boat ought 10 set in the water,
while a hurricane is in full blast, and
there are three steamers crowded with
passengers going TO pieces in the oiling
An old tar, the muscle Of his face working
with nervous excitement, cries ont: This
is no time TO discuss such things Man
the lile-bOat! Who will volunteer? Out
with her into the surf! Pull, my lads,
pull for the wreck! lla' ha! Now w0
have them. Lit them in and lay them
down on the bottOm of the boat Jack,
you try tO bring them 10. Put these fan
nels around their hands and feet, and
will pull for the shore. God help me,
| There! Landed, Hnzzar' When there
are 81 many struggling in the waves ci
sin and sorrow and wretchedncss, let all
Ian ,ltat IN anl
| tiOn for ever.
| hethink myself that there are some
here whose opportunity or whose life is q
mere wreck, and they have only a small
piece left. You started in youth with all
sails set and everything promised o grand
voyage hut you have sailed in the wrong
direction OF have iOuDdcrcd on rock
Iou have only a fragment Of time left.
| Then come in on that one plank. Some
on broken pieces of the ship"
You admit
YOU ARE ALI. BROKEN UP,
one decade of your life gone by, two de.
cades, three decades, four decades, q half
century, perhaps three-quarters Of cen
tury gone. The hour hand and the min
ute hand OF your clock of life are almost
parallel, and soon II will 10 twelve and
your day ended. Clear discouraged, are
| yOur ! admit IL is a sal thing 10 give all
of our lives that are worth anything to
sin and the devil and then at last
make God present Of a first.rate
corpse. Bnt the past y0u cannot
recover. Get on hoard that old ship you
never will. Have You only une more year
let, one more month, one more week, one
more day, one more bOur-comc In on
that. Perhaps if you get 10 heaven God
may lei you go ont on some great mission
to some other world. where you can some-
what atone for your Lack Of sey,ics IN this.
From many deathbed have seen The
hands .kTawh mp in deploration something
like this: my life has been wasted. I
had good mental faculties and fine social
position, ana great opportunity, hat
through worldliness and neg,ep, all be-,
l unna IN yyaatn aavn .la.n loVV